Databases are typically organized as either row-oriented databases or column-oriented databases. In a dictionary compressed column-oriented database, values are stored in a dictionary, while tokens corresponding to the values are stored in memory blocks of the database. Each memory block has a type of encoding allowing it to store a particular number of tokens. However, when then memory block can no longer accommodate a new token, the memory block must be re-encoded so that it may store new token values. The re-encoding process however may consume additional systems processing and memory resources, delay system processing, and cause data inconsistencies when the existing data is being accessed by one or more other systems or users.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.